Here is a link to our Attendance Policy
School attendance is central to raising standards in education and ensuring all pupils can fulfil their potential. The government has set a target of 95% attendance for all pupils nationally. This rate allows for periods of illness or particular circumstances when absence from school is unavoidable which we understand happens from time to time.
Regular attendance at school:
We want your child to attend school regularly and punctually as this supports their learning. If your child is not well or if you have a planned reason why your child cannot attend school, please inform the school at the earliest opportunity. This can be done by phone or by email.
Children of compulsory school age (5 and above), must, by law, be in receipt of a full time education.
Each person with day to day parental responsibility could be taken to court and fined for each child who is not attending school regularly or who is persistently late.
The Education Act 1996 states that all pupils should attend school regularly and punctually. ‘If a child of compulsory school age, who is a registered pupil at a school fails to attend regularly at the school, his parent is guilty of an offence.’
The school gates will open at 8.45 am for a ‘soft start’. Your child should be in school by 8:55 am for the start of the school day.
The school gates will close at 8:55 am and if you arrive after this time you must enter the school via the school office and your child will be recorded as late.
If your child arrives after 9.30 am they will receive an unauthorised absence mark as the register has officially closed for that session.
Remember that persistent lateness can be legally counted as unauthorised absence.
As well as poor attendance, persistent lateness can also have a detrimental impact on your child's education. It is essential that your child arrives to school in time to start the school day, and to ensure they are present for the start of lessons. Being late can also;
The school operates a First Day Response and will telephone families where children have failed to attend school in time for morning registration. This process is paramount to the school's safeguarding strategy.
If your child is going to be absent, please inform the school before 9.00 am on the morning of the first day of absence and provide us with further details.
Phone the absence line in school office as soon as possible on 0208 520 7031 (option 1) where you will be able to leave a message, alternatively you can inform us of your child's absence via the Arbor App. When leaving a message or sending an email, please ensure you give us as much information as possible, for example:
Keep the school informed if the absence is to continue.
If we do not receive a satisfactory explanation we will not authorise the absence and will affect your child's attendance record.
The school can only authorise any absences in the following circumstances:
What is NOT acceptable?
This is not a conclusive list. All absence, whether authorised or unauthorised will still affect your child's overall attendance.
If you wish your child to be absent from school for any exceptional circumstances please complete a Request for absence form which is available at the main school office. All requests received will be reviewed by the Head of School prior to leave being authorised.
This should be done at the earliest possible opportunity and with at least 2 weeks’ notice. Please note that the Head of School will take into consideration your child’s age, the time of year and the overall attendance pattern of your child and has the right to refuse your request for a leave of absence.
Please note that a request to go on holiday during term time is not an exceptional circumstance.
Where possible, organise authorised absences well in advance.
Please try to arrange any medical/dental appointments etc during holiday times or out of school hours.
We appreciate that this is not always possible, and you may not be able to make some appointments outside of school hours. Where this is the case , wherever possible, the child should come to school before the appointment and return to school afterwards.
For any appointments which requires your child to be absent from school we will ask for an appointment letter or confirmation of appointment to authorise the absence.
If you wish to take your child out of school for a religious observance please inform the school. Further details can be found within the school's attendance policy.
Family holidays must not be taken during the school term. The guidelines from the London Borough of Waltham Forest state that under no circumstances should schools authorise absence for holidays or other circumstances on the grounds of cost. Requests for term time leave for a holiday will not be authorised.
If you take your child on holiday without authorisation, the Local Authority has the power to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice of £60 per parent per child, rising to £120 if not paid within 28 days. Failure to pay can result in a criminal record and a fine of up to £1000.
Please note that the school dates can be found on the schools website so you can plan your holidays well in advance.
For further information on attendance and punctuality please refer to the school's attendance policy which can be found and downloaded in the policy section.
If you have any further questions or queries, please speak to the main school office where we will be able to support you further.
We look forward to working in partnership with you all to ensure your child received the very best education possible.
Thomas Gamuel Primary School
Colchester Road
Walthamstow
London E17 8LG
Tel: 020 8520 7031
Email: school@thomasgamuel.net
Hard copies of any documents are available upon request from the school office
Contacts:
Head of School - Paul Acheson
General enquiries – Nosheen Choudhary
Safeguarding – Paul Acheson /Maretha Cilliers
Complaints – Paul Acheson
